Race 10, Snappy Hour

Sure, it looked fine when we tested it.
But the on the day, there was a bit more menace. And rain.
But the drama started before we even got there. The brand new trailer built especially to carry Trouble Maker and Quicksilver shed a wheel at 90km/h causing quite a nice shower of sparks down the highway, but seriously delaying the convoy. Some running repairs with some sticks, a cable-tie and a roll of duct tape and we limped to the track.
And what a track! In the middle of nowhere, finishing in a car park with spectacular views of the ocean and nice and steep. Our first dirt track, too (if you don't count the excursions Double Trouble took in the first couple of races).
It was wet though. And the dirt sections had potholes you could lose small children in. Death Machine even thought knobbly tires were a good idea.
It got real bumpy and real rugged real quickly...
One of the casualties was Subrid, a truly awesome new cart on its debut run. It's got proper hydraulic brakes and at least four people lost their spare tyres last time they got their Subarus serviced. Unfortunately, the rigid chassis bounced around a bit much of the rough surface and it lost control, spun out and took out a tree. But I suspect on tar it would be Subrid first, daylight second.
The Blue Bandit is a low-slung, tarmac-hugging, new-aerodynamic-bodywork-sporting, finely tuned race machine.
It struggled with the potholes. But at least it made it to the bottom of the hill.
Quicksilver is not built for the wet. It locked-up and spun-out into a car park not even half-way down. Back on track, the pilot locked-up again, got the fear, tried to bail, stupidly crashed and decided spectating would do for the rest of the day. Wuss.
Fairing better was Superkart 3000, for the first race anyway. It managed a respectable 5th. However, the second race wasn't as kind and it ended up in a ditch with a smashed front end.
Kymbo also had a great first race, handling the conditions with ease and finishing 3rd. The second race it also did well before spinning out in spectacular fashion on the treacherous final corner.
Paddles, sporting a homage to our favourite stuntmen at Steel On Wheels, was unlucky to come off into the car park that Quicksilver visited. I don't know why, but I speculate it was to sacrifice himself rather than have a horrible head-on collision with a bus load of crippled children out on a day trip from their orphanage.
Told you it was rough. Just look at the attitude on this! Tun o' Fun absolutely flew down the hill with surprising agility considering its size. I can only imaging how fast it used to cut lawns.
While some people struggled with the conditions, others found them so easy they could do it one handed while looking through a viewfinder. This is how seriously we take getting footage for our movies.
Trouble Maker is aptly named. Drama getting to the track, then more dramas going home. Even though it was tied down, it decided to jump out of the trailer it was in and try to escape. It now sports a few more cracks and dents in its bodywork.
Bootylicious ran an incident free race, but the rough road still took its toll. The balonies on the back are rock solid, but the front's going to need a wheel alignment.
The Red Rocket had a new pilot who appeared apprehensive at first, but I reckon it was all an act to psych the rest of us out. Despite starting second last he finished well up the order.
Despite a couple of months absence and the fact that it rides lower than a snakes belly, Agent Orange made a comeback and achieved two long held goals of beating the Blue Bandit and Quicksilver. Gloat while you can.
Even with special wet-weather tyres, Team Death couldn't repeat their 1-2 form finish. Death Machine, looking better than ever after extensive repairs since last race, wasn't able to make up ground from it's midfield starting position.
Death Ray, meanwhile, led from the front and was never seriously challenged from the rest of the pack. It took some corners on two wheels and some on no wheels and once again sleeps with the trophy.

Official results for those keeping score at home:

1. Death Ray
2. Ton o' Fun
3. Kymbo
4. Bootylicious
5. Superkart 3000
6. Trouble Maker
7. Red Rocket
8. Death Machine
9. Trollywood
10. Agent Orange
11. Paddles
12. Blue Bandit
13. Subrid – DNF
14. Quicksilver – DNF

Thank you as always to our crew who start us and stop us and keep us running even when we forget to tighten our wheel nuts. Movie up – go look!